Long Way From Here
by Ian Reid
Summary: The chronicles of Scott Solomon as he travels to Ba Sing Se. A lone traveler having walked through the SpaceTime Continuum itself into a new world of fantasy, adventure, and friends. This is a Fandom Premiere.
1. Reunion

Long Way From Here  
By  
Ian Gainsborough

Author's Note: Scott Solomon is my character. To explain this story would be a hindrance at most. Long story short, Scott's traveled around the world for so long, he crossed dimensions. This is not the beginning of that. I've warned you for now.

Chapter 1: Reunion

Suki's vision swam. For a moment, she thought she heard the voice of a boy calling for her.  
"Come on, Suki, give me a sign." Suki's head throbbed. Light poured in and ruddy twilight greeted her eyes flickering open. Sitting over her, with the glow of a fire against his face, she welcomed the sight with a smirk. Thoughts filled her mind and the throbbing subsided. Memories of meeting this red-haired stranger surfaced into her mind. She reflected on meeting him and other refugees en route to Ba Sing Se.

"Xin," she said gently, groaning to sit up. Xin stopped her, and laid her down again.  
"Take it easy, Suki," he said, "From what's gone on here, I'd say you were in a hell of a fight. How do you feel?"  
"Like I was hit with some really nasty Fire Bending," she replied, bringing a hand to her forehead. Her next thoughts were on the cool brass headdress she had worn, now apparently missing. In fact, she was missing a lot of things. She didn't feel the constriction of her well-known form-fitting armor.

"Where's my armor?" she asked, thinking aloud.  
"Not sure," said Xin, turning back to face her. "When I found you, you were stripped; as were two other of your fighters. I cleaned your wounds best I could without peeking." In his hands as he said this was a mortar and pestle, grinding up leaves and herbs. He set it aside and helped Suki into a sitting position.

Suki had a better look at her newfound friend. He was a strange one; with unusual red hair slowly growing long, and sparkling eyes that held a fire, yet he didn't have the ambitions, the integrity of any Fire Bender. He was well muscled, and proved his skills when she first met him as a strange wanderer.

"How've you been since Full Moon Bay?" he asked, continuing to grind the herb leaves.  
"Alright," she answered. "I finally saw that boy I was talking about again."  
"You mean Sokka?"  
"I helped him and the Avatar through the Serpent's Pass."

Xin stopped grinding again, checking the herbs to see if they were a fine paste. He took a breath, long and careful, as if a memory had overtaken him suddenly.  
"Serpent's Pass, huh?" he said, bringing the mortar over to Suki's side, and applying a finger-full of the paste to a wound. Suki hissed and cringed. It stung like there was no end to the sharp stabbing pain. Xin reapplied the bandage and set the mortar aside.  
"You know, a few days after I left on the boat, I couldn't help but feel I needed to tell you something," said Xin. "So I stayed aboard to head back to Full Moon Bay. I asked around only to learn from a couple of refugees that you and the Avatar and some others had headed off to the Serpent's Pass together two days earlier."

"Wait, you followed us?" asked Suki. Xin nodded and poked the fire to keep it going.  
"Well I had to wait for a few days; you know, pick up supplies, rest up, all that good stuff. I went after you three days after I got back to Full Moon Bay, so you had a head start.

"I found your tracks, and followed them along the Pass. I stopped and rested, oddly enough, in the very same place you had camped."  
"What about the gap of water in between?" asked Suki. "How'd you get across?"  
Xin chuckled to himself. "I gathered you had some Benders in your party," he said, "I had no choice but to swim across. Well actually, I held my breath and jumped in, swam as far as I could and walked what ground I managed to get a foothold of. There's nothing scarier than the thought of drowning." Xin shuddered at the memory, but took deep breaths to calm down again. It was silent, as the moon had slid into the star-pecked sky; Broad strokes of dark blue chalk filled the night sky, bringing only the red glow of the fire as light to the faces of Suki and Xin. Suki looked with an admiration at Xin; his bravery to do something so stupid. He reminded her of Sokka in many aspects, and missed that idiot from the Water Tribe deeply. The fire crackled as Xin placed more wood, and he sat back and stared at it.

The pause broke finally with Xin continuing. "I found your tracks a day or so ago. They broke off from another party, obviously the Avatar and his group. They were headed toward Ba Sing Se it looked like. But I followed your tracks, instead. After a few days, the smoke of the battlefield drew me and I found you left for dead."  
"How long was I out?" Suki asked, stared at her bandaged torso.  
"A day at least."  
"And the others?"  
"They're fine. I tended to them as well. Hell of a fight. There were tracks I didn't recognize. Three sets heading off toward Ba Sing Se."

Silence continued into the night, Xin and Suki staring at the fire. Finally, in an attempt to break the accursed serenity, Xin stood.  
"It's late," he said. "I think we're going to need some rest for tomorrow."  
"Tomorrow?" asked Suki. "Why?" Xin was halfway across the circle before he looked over his shoulder, the campfire illuminating his face.  
"We're heading to Ba Sing Se."

Author's Note: Originally, the story was about Scott somehow finding his way into Kyoshi Island, but I coudln't quite figure out how he would meet up with Iroh and Zuko. So I settled on the idea, 'What if Scott met with Suki instead?' and I found this concept was easier to work with. But for a change, I wanted to try something different, you know, something that not many other writers have tried. And of course it ended up Scott and Suki meeting _again _instead of for the first time to establish this takes place after Scott had come to this new world. I went ahead and did my homework, having watched several key episodes to finalize this story's tie-in to canon events during Ba Sing Se. Not all of it is true (I refuse to give my point on this until later chapters) but makes for an interesting concept.


	2. Of Bandits and Thievery

Chapter 2: Of Bandits and Thievery

The sun rose, bringing its welcoming warm light down upon the sleeping Kyoshi Warriors. Suki sat up dizzily, still reeling from the encounter with Azula, but maintained her balance as she stood up for the first time in a day. Her surroundings were more visible; she recognized the inside of the stone structure where she and the warriors found Appa only days before. Her allies stirred, but remained asleep.

Ahead of Suki, she found the figure of Xin practicing his martial arts in the warm sun's rays. He was topless, wearing only his pants, and his red hair spilling freely about his shoulders, looking molten in the rising sun. He flowed from one stance to the next almost as if he didn't move at all and he let his body be manipulated by unseen cosmic forces. He inhaled, holding it to cleanse his body and finally exhaled. Stepping backward two steps, he rounded to see Suki watching him. He nodded, acknowledging her presence, and they traded good mornings with each other.

The majority of the morning was in eating picked berries and fruits and preparing for the long road ahead. The girls weren't burdened in many supplies, just the simple essentials, whilst Xin had with him a bigger load.  
"Your wounds haven't healed fully, and walking and straining yourself will aggravate them further," Xin said to Suki. "Besides, some more weight on my shoulders always makes for good exercise." Xin had crafted walking staves for each of the other four Kyoshi Warriors, to support themselves in the long journey ahead of them. Suki was carried piggyback, draped over Xin's shoulders while he kept a firm hold of her. He wore his backpack on his front, to balance out the weight of both, as the pack and Suki weighed roughly the same.

It was early afternoon when Xin and the girls found their way out of the forest. Sunlight came harshly down upon them, blinding them as if in punishment for not beholding its brightness and warming power on the earth.

"So the sun misses us," said Xin, holding a hand over his eyes. "Unfortunately, it's a long way to the city, so I brought water for each of us." He searched through a pocket on the pack and pulled out a water skin. He handed it to Suki to hold onto.

"Keep it for a while," he said, "I might need it in case the sun gets too harsh."

For a long, agonizing two hours, Xin and the warriors traveled hard ground, with the sun beating relentlessly down on them. Suki shared the water skin when needed, and endured the heat while Xin endured the burden.

"Well, first leg's done with," said Xin as he stared over the hilltop. Ahead of them, a long white face rose high and mightily over the landscape, rippling in the vapor of the heat drafts rising from the earth.  
"Ba Sing Se," one of the Warriors said with a hint of admiration and overwhelming on her breath. "The Impenetrable City."  
"That's just the Outer Wall, Chi," said a second warrior. "But it's still a sight to behold."  
"Outer Wall or not, it means we're closer than we were this morning," said Xin. "If we're lucky and keep a steady pace, we might reach it by nightfall."  
"I heard somewhere the Outer Wall was crawling with bandits," said a third warrior. "So we should be careful where we make camp tonight."  
"Thanks for the heads up," said Xin. "But for now, let's worry getting down this hill first." It took a while to find a visible path down the hillside, as it slanted sharply towards the ground. Xin found a level pathway winding down. Already, the sun betrayed them to their expectations, and began its slow descent to sleep in the mountains.  
"By nightfall, we'll be half-way through this valley," said Xin, recalculating.

Nightfall had finally caught up with Xin, Suki and the other warriors. A fire blazed brightly against the dimming skies, illuminating the party and warming them against the cool air of darkness. They found a ridge to camp out, off to the side of the valley pathway. Xin found a rock for Suki to sit on, and returned from his pack with the paste of herbs. He applied the paste to her wound, this time the stinging not so sharp as before. Xin rewrapped the bandages and sat down munching on the picked fruits he kept for the journey. He whistled to himself, before pulling from his pack a long black object. He undid the zipper before pulling out an instrument with a flourish that resembled a mandolin. He strummed it, the sound resembling a guitar. The warriors were excited to see Xin's instrument again, and sat eagerly waiting for a song. Xin motioned for the chattering to subside, found his fingering after a few test strums and began a rhythmic strumming that brought silence to the warriors immediately. In a low long voice, Xin began to sing:

_Armies have conquered, then fallen in the end,  
Kingdoms have risen then buried by sand,  
The earth is our Mother, She gives and She takes  
She puts us to sleep, in Her light we'll awake_

We'll all be forgotten  
There's no endless fame  
Yet everything we do  
Is never in vain 

Xin drew a breath, the warriors soon swaying to the velvet melody.

_We're apart of a story, part of a tale  
We're all on this journey, no one's to stay  
Wherever it's going; what is the way? _

He drew breath again, strumming to give the warriors a chance to let the words sink in. And once more, he inhaled and went on;

_Forests, desert, rivers, blue seas  
Mountains and valleys, nothing here stays  
While we think we witness,  
We're apart of the scene  
This never-ending story;  
Where will it lead to?_

The earth is our Mother, She gives and She takes  
But She's also apart; apart of the tale…

At once Xin went into a long deep solo, one that brought the stars out as if by an unseen force in his playing. The warriors felt a great energy that night, when Xin played, and never believed it to come from him. Once he caught his breath, he went on again;

_We're apart of the story, apart of the tale  
We're all on this journey; no one's to stay  
O where is it going, what is the way?_

We're apart of the story, apart of the tale  
Sometimes beautiful, sometimes insane  
No one remembers how it began 

These verses he repeated a few times, only a few warriors catching it the first time and singing along gently. Only the silence amplified his guitar, and his playing stopped. He had finished, opening his eyes as if from some trance to five Kyoshi warriors smiling with tear-streaked faces.  
"Beautiful, Xin," said a warrior. "Is this another song from your travels?" A deep, slow clapping sounded from behind Xin, whose back faced the wall of Ba Sing Se. Xin turned around as the Kyoshi warriors looked up.

It was a man, by any other description, with long ragged black hair and robes that would make an aristocrat green with envy.  
"Very beautiful, song, good sir," the man said, eyes focusing on Xin. He proceeded forward, his facial features becoming more visible in the firelight. He was young, but had the appearance of seeing many winters.  
"I must say, it brought tears to my eyes," he continued, "and how I would love to hear another of your songs, good sir." Xin looked the man thoroughly over, seeing no immediate threat in his stance. Xin paused for a moment, shifting through the songs and rhymes he's learned and memorized over the years.

Xin shook his head. "I'm sorry, good sir, but I can't seem to draw one up to please you and my companions," he said.  
"Is that so?" asked the man, stroking the long beard dangling from his chin. "Perhaps my boys can find some way to…strike up another song?" Surrounding Xin and the Kyoshi warriors were a group of nine more men, each of which dressing less as fashionably as the leader, and having weapons in hand. The man facing Xin drew from his side a dagger as well. They began to close in on the group of travelers. Xin in all of this was setting another log on the campfire, and its blaze grew higher and brighter, lighting the area enough to make out his assailants. Xin stared down at the fire, as it crackled, feeling its heat on his face.

Contact.

Xin turned to face the bandit leader. "Now hold on a minute," he said, "just because I can't come up with a song, doesn't mean I don't know a story." The bandit leader paused for a moment, considering this. He stood straight, waving at his men to back off. Given again the opportunity to speak, Xin motioned for the bandits to seat themselves, before he began with his story.

"This is the story of the four Dragons," he began. "Long ago, when Spirits had shaped the world but gave it no face, four dragons descended upon the world, and brought it among its many things; Life. Each of the four Dragons had a hand in giving the world a face: The Dragon of the Air created the winds for birds to soar through: while the Dragon of Water created the oceans, rivers and lakes for the fish to swim in; and the Dragon of Earth created the mountains and valleys and canyons to let the beasts roam freely about.

"But the Dragon of Fire had no gift, except to create the very blood of the world, to keep the heart of the world burning. He went behind Earth Dragon's back and made volcanoes out of his proud mountains, but Earth Dragon saw a beauty as Fire Dragon's world-blood had a beauty in itself and thus forgave him.

"Once the four Dragons had finished their labors, they returned to the Spirit World from which they come, letting the Spirits create and shape the birds and beasts upon the land as they chose. When the Dragons saw the Spirits create Human, the Dragons talked amongst themselves."

Xin changed the tone of his voice to match the sound of the dragons as they each spoke, which proved to impress his audience.

"'These Humans walk the world we worked so hard to create,' said Fire Dragon, 'they do not appreciate our talents or hardships.'  
"'But they look so happy to see such a beautiful world,' said Air Dragon, 'I have no objections to their staying.'  
"'Indeed,' said Earth Dragon, 'what they are doing is nothing we should concern ourselves. After all, we are proud of our work, and they see a beauty in things we paid little attention to.'  
"'I feel our job was good enough,' said Water Dragon, 'they appreciate our work, and that is all the satisfaction I need.' Earth and Air Dragon nodded at this, but Fire Dragon, he was not pleased.  
"'Our hard work goes to waste on these Humans and they do nothing to honor us!' roared Fire Dragon, 'they appreciate our work, but they do not appreciate us! Something must be given in return!' And Fire Dragon stormed away from the rest of his brothers."

As Xin spoke as the Fire Dragon, the campfire he stood at would often shoot upward, and blazing brighter and hotter. The audience was captivated at this and waited eagerly for Xin to continue.

"Well, Fire Dragon, he went off and flew about this world he helped to give face, and found a small village in what would become later the Fire Nation's Capital, and persuaded them to give offerings to him. Once the humans had decided not to offer their own lives to please this terrible and fierce dragon, they went out in search of other humans. And thus, the Fire Nation would wage war; for the lives they took were to please the Fire Dragon, for in their honoring him, he taught the Humans his Fire Bending. And since then, the Fire Nation had grown into what it was then, into what it is now, and what it will be in years and time to come."

Xin sighed deeply once the story closed, and applause scattered around the audience. Bandits and Kyoshi warriors clapped half-heartedly, and Xin knew how to give them a real ending. As his story ended, the moon had begun its descent through the sky, and the fire crackled. Xin again eyed the fire and his hand twitched.

"Though it's been said that the Fire Dragon will appear from an open flame, such as this little campfire," he said, "in hopes of fulfilling his insurmountable greed. For human lives made him weary, and the real desires turned to gold and other such. And it draws him quickly. In fact, I think he's coming now."

At once, sparks erupted from the campfire, flames grew hot and high, and the image of a terrible dragon rose forth, cinders and embers spitting about. Bandits and Kyoshi warriors alike moved to scatter, but the great red-hot dragon circled over them, spitting flame.  
"What do we do?!" squealed a bewildered bandit, dropping his knife at the very mass of the dragon before him. Two eyes like ember burned into his soul, and a long gaping mouth filled to the brim with teeth like flames of a hundred candles flickered. And a long red tongue snaked about, writhing and burning, lashing at the air to releasing sparks to shower over cowering bandits.

"Turn out your weapons and money!" shouted Xin as he ran to protect Suki from the dragon's great and terrible wrath. Bandits tossed daggers and money, emptying their pockets of whatever they had; jewels and gold pieces from nobles, trinkets and other bits and bobs they had about. The bandits and their leader fled, several falling over and rolling down the side of the valley, scrambling as far away from the scene that night. The dragon passed and circled over the hidden Kyoshi warriors, and spiraled downward into the embers of the campfire, and the flames raised and flickered again in the night.

Author's note: The song in the middle is Never-Ending Story by Within Temptation in case anyone was curious. I decided to use it as it seemed to fit accordingly to the whole of the Avatar series. I love the song which is why I had to add it in. I really wanted a musical moment, and could think of no other song to add.


	3. Unbelievable Truths

Chapter 3: Unbelievable Truths

Suki and the Kyoshi warriors observed silently as Xin started about, picking up the trinkets and jewelry and weapons and money off the ground, filling a bag and chuckling to himself. How very suspicious that he was not as terrified as the rest of them. How suspicious that he knew the so-called Fire Dragon was coming. Suki pushed herself to her feet, staggering a ways, and then moving around the campfire to Xin. Suki stared at the campfire, and saw just that. A campfire plain and simple, logs crackling and embers burning. The blaze wasn't big enough, but how did a dragon of fire twenty feet long appear?

Xin rounded as his shoulder was tapped firmly. Suki stared at him with cold eyes in the darkness, away from the firelight. Xin realized her stare, and felt afraid; somehow knowing an extensive questioning was sure to follow.  
"Need some more of that paste, Suki?" he asked.  
"I don't need herbal paste, I need answers, Xin," she said coldly. "I need to know. Who are you? You were this humble traveler with a skill in fighting and a talent for singing, but after that stunt you just pulled, I don't know you. Who are you really? I don't need answers, I want them!" Xin was taken aback at this. He didn't expect her to want answers this soon. And at the same time he knew in his mind this would come, and he couldn't prolong it. He sighed.

"Alright, you want answers? I'll give you enough to chew on for a while." Xin sat down, Suki following with the help of two other Kyoshi warriors at either side.  
"The reason I followed you was because I wanted to tell you the truth," he began. "I only use Xin as a traveling name. It sounded more fitting in a world like this than Scott Solomon." Suki and the other warriors stared long at this boy, who turned his gaze away from them. There was guilt in his eyes, something he was loath to show to such strong warriors.

"That's your real name?" asked Suki, "Scott Solomon?" Scott nodded, at this.  
"And I'm not even from Omashu," said Scott. "I'm from another world." The look on Suki's face almost made Scott want to take it a bit further but he resisted the urge. Rather, he went on to explain himself, how he wound up in this world.  
"As far as I can tell, I've been traveling this world for months," he said. "I didn't recognize my surroundings until I was hit in the face with a rock. Turns out, I reached a village of Earth benders, and knew I wasn't in China anymore."

"What's China?" asked a warrior. Scott paused to stare at the warrior. It wasn't so much an unexpected question.  
"Moving further back, China is a large country, with a culture very much like what you see today. It's way more advanced technology-wise, but it's in itself the same culture and lifestyle." Exactly as Scott feared, the warriors were curious about this new other world, and questions overlapped and fell on him like an avalanche. The first few questions he managed to get a few words in, but soon the five warriors had overwhelmed him and he couldn't take the pressure. He was on his feet before it registered with the warriors, and he pounded the air with his fists.  
"_Enough!_" he bellowed, the campfire rising high to match his temper. The warriors fell silent as they felt the heat of the blaze against their backs, turning to see the rising flames and flinched fearing the dragon would reemerge. They turned again to face Scott, his hair falling into his face, breathing heavily and tears beginning to form in his eyes. He took a breath, and ran trembling fingers through his hair to straighten it out. The silence that pressed from all sides was pushed away at his voice.

"The reason I didn't tell any of you the truth was exactly what I was afraid of happening tonight," he said. "I knew you'd have questions, and I knew you'd ask them over one another. That's something I can never deal with. It gets so frustrating when I can't be heard. I hate being ignored and interrupted." Scott turned his gaze away from the warriors, away from the wall, towards the Serpent's Pass just visible past a high mountain.

"Forgive us, Xin," said Chi. Scott turned, the warriors bowing their apologies. "We didn't mean to." Scott sighed. He felt calm finally. He stepped forward, setting a hand on Suki's shoulder, squeezed, and went from one warrior to the next. They rose as his grip softened, and turned to find him sitting on a rock.  
"I will answer the one question on all of your minds," he said finally. "I am not a Fire-bender. But rather, I was born with a special ability, something that I have learned to control and use when I'm around fire. You…may not understand it, but it's called Pyrokinesis." And into the night, Scott explained his power in further detail before suggesting they had some sleep while it was still dark.

Suki looked at the remaining embers glowing and then to the warriors falling asleep one by one. Scott sat there staring at the embers himself, lost in his own thoughts, and feeling something like regret for letting his temper get the better of him. Suki sat down beside Scott.  
"Xin—"  
"I'd have thought you'd call me by my real name now that you know it," he said.  
"Xin is your real name to me," said Suki. Scott looked at the Kyoshi warrior, in the dim light of the falling moon and the faint glowing embers.

"It's best you get some sleep," said Scott. "It'll be another day at least before we reach Ba Sing Se, if not more if the sun betrays me again." Suki unrolled her pad, settled down, and drifted into sleep. Scott sat on his rock, putting his head against the jutting formation behind him.  
"Thank you, Suki," he whispered, "for understanding." His eyelids grew heavy, exhausted from so much of the day. Sleep blurred his vision, and the camp fell silent.


End file.
